9 comments

I like to think of intuition as a decision maker applying logic in a subconscious way. Something we are not aware of in the moment when action takes place. If we then can explain it later in a logical manner then it was the right decision. If not, I guess we were fooled by ourselves.

Parvez,
I agree.
In advertising terms I think of it as ‘desire’ and ‘permission’.
Right brain (emotion) then left brain (reason).
So the ad has to create an emotion (desire) then close the sale with reason (permission).
This allows us to justify the choice we want to make.

It’s a high risk strategy to always go out by the seat of your pants. Aside from the fact that there is no logic to what those guys put themselves through could this be also about the difference between playing to win and playing to avoid defeat?

Great post, especially as it’s the first of yours I’ve read. I think the area you’re mining here is the difference between awareness and knowledge. Between direct cognition of the truth and the more-laborious method of thinking it through. We live in a world where knowledge is king, where the rational is elevated above the emotional (as if they could ever be separated in the mind) and everything has to be “proven” to be true. This is not, however, true. Einstein, as you know, was not and experimentalist; he didn’t think you needed to prove things for them to be true. This premise is as applicable to the structure of the universe as it is to my love for my wife and kids. Science may one day quantify my love, but that quantification won’t make it more true.

People intuitively understand there’s something deeper than intellectual knowledge. They speak of a deeper knowing…I prefer the term awareness. Knowledge without thought. There are a lot of addicts who know their drug of choice is killing them. But it’s only when they become aware of that fact can they take meaningful steps to change. This isn’t to say that thinking, knowledge and the workings of our rational mind are superfluous. They are simply not the foundation.